Hello to anyone and all who follow this blog. I have received this information as an email and wanted to put it out there in the world so everyone can see this sickness that is Spanish obstetrics and gynecology. I deeply apologies to anyone who finds this offensive, because it is and the horror is that every day a women in Spain is abused, disrespected and at times mentally and physically scared by these sadistic people hiding behind a medical licence. Their inhumanity and arrogance are a crime towards women. This is why I work in Spain and this is the mountain humane people have to climb to get to birth as a normal part of life.

Dear birth supporters, As some of you know, today there has been a big outcry among birth activists in Spain… I’m forwarding a document written by Jesusa, Spanish doula based in London which explains why – looking at the comic strips, even without understanding Spanish, gives a glimpse of how women and birth are seen by many gynecologists in Spanish culture, and of the ‘machismo’ that still pervades society here.This has stirred up a great deal inside of me today… Sophia x****************************************************************FROM Jesusa Ricoy-Olariaga <rompiendoaguas@gmail.com>The Spanish Society Of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (S.E.G.O) publishes a comic strip in their newsletter illustrated by a fellow doctor which depicts highly offensive images of women.In the strip women are depicted as illiterate, fat, ugly, or too old. The figure of the doctor is always male and they joke about women with uterine prolapses, laugh at international experts on non-interventionist labour and at women who have taken the time to become informed about birth, and even portray a woman with revealing clothes telling two less attractive women that her gynecologist does her smear test every three months, implying a sexual interest on the part of the gynecologist.You can see the comic strip here:http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/view_online.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Felpartoesnuestro.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F09%2Frecopilacic3b3n-de-las-vic3b1etas.pdfThe Spanish organisation El Parto es Nuestro which acts as a watchdog for the rights of women and their families in childbirth has issued a statement and press note.There is a campaign group created on Facebook and several letters have been sent all morning to authorities and the Spanish andinternational press.I and many others feel that this is not only an insult to women, their families and birth in general, but to birthing professionals around theworld.We are asking the S.E.G.O to withdraw the comic strip and to start an internal campaign to make their staff aware of the effect of inhumane medical practices during childbirth and to understand the reality of postnatal post traumatic stress disorder.Please show your solidarity by raising awareness on this issue and forwarding this email to whoever you consider appropriate.If you prefer, you can send me an statement and I will forward it to the S.E.G.OThank youKind Regards

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Hi Ruth, sorry for not responding sooner. You are right and I ask myself the same question. I have no answers, I think we want to believe the best in people and are told that doctors are caring people. I am sure these people care for their families and clients in their own way, but this is institutionalized misogyny and that's the frightening part.